University of Virginia Library

Scene I.

—A part of the Forest.
Enter Conrad and Auranthe.
Auranthe.
Go no further; not a step more; thou art
A master-plague in the midst of miseries.
Go—I fear thee. I tremble every limb,
Who never shook before. There's moody death
In thy resolved looks—Yes, I could kneel
To pray thee far away. Conrad, go, go—
There! yonder underneath the boughs I see
Our horses!

Conrad.
Aye, and the man.

Auranthe.
Yes, he is there.
Go, go,—no blood, no blood; go, gentle Conrad!

Conrad.
Farewell!

Auranthe.
Farewell, for this Heaven pardon you.

[Exit Auranthe.
Conrad.
If he survive one hour, then may I die
In unimagined tortures—or breathe through
A long life in the foulest sink of the world!
He dies—'tis well she do not advertise
The caitiff of the cold steel at his back.

[Exit Conrad.
Enter Ludolph and Page.
Ludolph.
Miss'd the way, boy, say not that on your peril!

Page.
Indeed, indeed I cannot trace them further.

Ludolph.
Must I stop here? Here solitary die?
Stifled beneath the thick oppressive shade
Of these dull boughs,—this oven of dark thickets,—
Silent,—without revenge?—pshaw!—bitter end,—
A bitter death,—a suffocating death,—
A gnawing—silent—deadly, quiet death!
Escap'd?—fled?—vanish'd? melted into air?
She's gone! I cannot clutch her! no revenge!
A muffled death, ensnar'd in horrid silence!
Suck'd to my grave amid a dreamy calm!
O, where is that illustrious noise of war,
To smother up this sound of labouring breath,
This rustle of the trees!

[Auranthe shrieks at a distance.
Page.
My Lord, a noise!
This way—hark!

Ludolph.
Yes, yes! A hope! A music!
A glorious clamour! How I live again!

[Exeunt.